Bob Dylan Album-by-Album/Song-by-Song 1963-Present

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Komakino___, Apr 27, 2023.

  1. Komakino___

    Komakino___ It's tiring, roaming these halls... Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    Girl from the North Country


    This is another very strong song dare I say stronger than the opener, This song amongst others on the album is the first that is perhaps clearly inspired by his then girlfriend Suze Rotolo and her leaving for Italy due to the demands the relationship cast over her and this song serves as quite the beautiful lament to a love lost, the vocals have this almost wistful inflection that you can tell comes from a place of pain and love. This is not a complex piece of poetry nor is it a indecipherable thought provoking piece but for what it is it serves its purpose well and is a feeling many can relate to (goodness knows I can) in that we can lose someone yet still wish they are taken care of.

    "Please see for me if she's wearing a coat so warm
    To keep her from the howlin' winds"

    Beautiful, simple yet elegant in execution 5/5
     
  2. Komakino___

    Komakino___ It's tiring, roaming these halls... Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    Here Is a great version from 1964 from the Canadian show "Quest" I feel the vocals are even more Impassioned here:

     
  3. prymel

    prymel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    Girl From The North Country

    This is a beautiful, caressing song, one that drifts over the senses like a warm breeze. These pure folk-styled songs are not my favorite Dylan song type, but there's no denying for me how gorgeous this one is. 5/5
     
  4. Dr.Robert

    Dr.Robert Forum Resident

    Location:
    Uk
    Girl From The North Country is a personal favourite. I first heard it at the age you need to hear romantic, yearning things. It's had a great hold on me for years and I always go back to it. May well be in my Dylan top 5
     
  5. Jackson

    Jackson Senior Member

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Incredible song, the Dylan/Cash version from Nashville Skyline is my favorite version, and all time favorite duet, love to sing it and play it on the guitar as well.
     
  6. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Well...put together by Bob Dylan. Let's say that.
     
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  7. caleb1138

    caleb1138 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    A beautiful song indeed. My favorite line is "In the darkness of my night/In the brightness of my day".
     
  8. in_the_fog

    in_the_fog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden

    I love his more minimalistic, at times almost Haiku like, lyrics and many times find them more sharp and poignant than his more elaborated narratives or surreal landscapes.
     
  9. jimbo3688

    jimbo3688 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, Arizona
    Blowin' In The Wind is a great and very culturally significant song, but its not one of the six best songs on Freewheelin'. Girl From The North Country is sublime.
     
  10. Amnion

    Amnion Forum Occupant

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Tsk Task. "You should feel" ? Check your ammo first, my Wildest friend. :winkgrin:
     
  11. aphexj

    aphexj Sound mind & body

    I first saw Bob perform live in 2004, and he treated us to a great reading of "Girl from the North Country" — one of the only pre-Highway 61 Revisited songs that took his fancy to play that night (the other being the sublime "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"). A few years later, I finally saw him play again, this time in a bigger arena with Mark Knopfler opening the show and sitting in for part of the main set — and then Bob played "Blowin' in the Wind" as the encore. As two jaw-dropping songs sequenced back-to-back to open an album, I don't think there are many others that can come close to matching those
     
  12. DmitriKaramazov

    DmitriKaramazov Senior Member

    Great performance and nifty video too! I enjoy all the finger picking songs that Bob used to do!

    Shout out to @Richard--W and @Tribute and @RayS and @Sean Murdock
    and @DeeThomaz and @Percy Song
    in case they’ve not seen this thread yet. :winkgrin:

    — David
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2023
  13. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Well...you got 'Like A Rolling Stone' and ''Tombstone Blues' but that's a few years and a few albums down the road yet.
     
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  14. Amnion

    Amnion Forum Occupant

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    If only Rainy Day Women didn't start Blonde On Blonde.
    • "Pledging My Time"
    • "Visions of Johanna"
     
  15. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    'Rainy Day...' and 'Pledging...' works fine as a one-two.
     
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  16. Uncrowned King

    Uncrowned King Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milan Italy
    Next July Dylan will play again in Perugia a beautiful city in Umbria Region in Italy. That's the Place he went searching for Suze in January 1963 because she was there studying...She left the city earlier and went back to NY unknown to Bob who found himself alone in Perugia and "wrote" Girl From The North Country (learned in London a few days earlier) and Boots Of Spanish Leather for Suze
     
  17. Amnion

    Amnion Forum Occupant

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    We've danced this before.. LOL. Rainy Day... Of all the songs on this album, Oh never mind, I've siad it before. :cool:
     
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  18. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Oh, they'll stone ya when you've said it all before....
     
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  19. Amnion

    Amnion Forum Occupant

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    they'll stone ya when you're right too, but then I Want You. Maybe the sides got mixed up.
     
  20. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    5/5
     
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  21. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Girl from the North Country
    5/5
     
  22. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    overall a deep 4/5...
     
  23. Library Eye

    Library Eye Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Songwriter fashioned this into something heavy and personal and, well, American, looking to Minnesota from Italy or wherever he was, partly by way of an English tune. Alchemy of a sorts
    ★★★★★
     
  24. Komakino___

    Komakino___ It's tiring, roaming these halls... Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    Note: I will also be amending the list of song's to discuss after the album and including the three released under the name "Blind boy Grunt" for Broadside Ballads Vol. 1 during the album period (though not on colombia), the list will now be as follows:

    1. "Mixed Up Confusion" (withdrawn single)

    2. "Rocks and Gravel" (Freewheelin' Early press)

    3. "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" (Freewheelin' Early press)

    4. "Rambling Gambling Willie" (Freewheelin' Early press)

    5. "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" (Freewheelin' Early press)

    6. "John Brown" (Broadside Ballads Vol.1)

    7. "Only a Hobo" (Broadside Ballads Vol.1)

    8."Talking Devil" (Broadside Ballads Vol.1)

    A fourth Dylan composition is included on the compilation though he doesn't take lead vocal so I have made the decision not to include it.

    If I am missing anything else officially released around this period let me know.

    We may discuss some of these songs again in future, however thankfully a lot of dylan's recordings are different enough to formulate a differing opinion.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2023
  25. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    Huh, I knew about Boots of Spanish Leather, but I always figured "Girl from the North Country" was about his high school girlfriend. After all, you can't get much more "north country" than Hibbing, Minnesota.

    Great song, but I definitely prefer the Nashville Skyline version.
     

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